1972 gauge issue

[boardog]

working on a 72 charger and having an issue with the gauges. i removed the dash to replace the dash pad. now none of the gauges are working. swapped out the 318 and replaced with a 440. everything else works. i am not sure if they worked prior due to the car not running. i have power to the i think its called a voltage regulator. the red wire is hot and the black wire on the other side is hot. i might have something crossed. there is a spade shown in a pic that has no wire attached. i think it is a ground. i have included pics. any help is appreciated.

 

[T2R9]

That spade is the cluster ground, it is a single black wire runs along the harness to a screw on the rear of the dash frame next to the heater control.

 

[Bee1971]

I didn’t even realize the RTE Limiter was missing the ground spade until I started hooking up wires within the dash

I installed the RTE when I replaced my dash bezel along with LED Dash Bulbs

To many things at once



Had to make my own ground spade and attached it to the mounting screw

Pretty wide also from what I remember for a male spade

 

[T2R9]

Yeah, I cut the bracket off an original and screw it on along with the RTE when I do mine.

 

[Bee1971]

I didn’t think of that at the time laying on my back pissing and moaning

LOL

 

[boardog]

the black wire in the foreground is a positive 12v wire. i can't remember where it is supposed to hook to.

 

[WileE]

Do you have a FSM ? Do you have the electrical schematic for the car ? That has the answers for you.

 

[Bee1971]

Smaller female spade black wire - Positive
Male spade of voltage limiter

Larger/Wider female spade black wire - Negative ground
Larger male spade , ground attachment on top of voltage limiter

 

[T2R9]

One black wire is 12v to the limiter, the other is the ground. I would disconnect the one connected to the limiter, verify which is 12v with key on, and which has continuity to ground and connect accordingly.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

IF CLUSTER DOESN’T GET GROUND VIA CABLE OR CHASSIS AND YOU TRY TO POWER UP THE CLUSTER TO CHECK FOR GAUGES THERE IS A HUGE POSIBILITY YOU BURN THE GAUGES.

Limiter DEMANDS ground to work. If no ground the points inside will remain close and will feed up the gauges with full 12 volts instead 5, burning them.

I didn’t even realize the RTE Limiter was missing the ground spade until I started hooking up wires within the dash

I installed the RTE when I replaced my dash bezel along with LED Dash Bulbs

To many things at once



Had to make my own ground spade and attached it to the mounting screw

Pretty wide also from what I remember for a male spade

View attachment 1486322

Yeah, I cut the bracket off an original and screw it on along with the RTE when I do mine.

What I will do when times come to that is reuse the original housing, removing the RTE PCB from its own housing and reinstall into the original one.

 

[72sunroof]

working on a 72 charger and having an issue with the gauges. i removed the dash to replace the dash pad. now none of the gauges are working. swapped out the 318 and replaced with a 440. everything else works. i am not sure if they worked prior due to the car not running. i have power to the i think its called a voltage regulator. the red wire is hot and the black wire on the other side is hot. i might have something crossed. there is a spade shown in a pic that has no wire attached. i think it is a ground. i have included pics. any help is appreciated.

View attachment 1486278

View attachment 1486279

View attachment 1486280

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View attachment 1486282

Another thing I would do is make the connections for the ammeter face outward from the post and not have then touching.
Also make sure the column grounds are also connected, weird things can happen there also.

Actually I see the spade for the ground and the ground wire in the picture.

 

[boardog]

issue solved, connected the wires as suggested and gauges now work. thanks everyone for the help. now the interior is the only thing left.